St. Anthony’s Catholic School in Kincardine officially unveiled a new addition, that will allow the school to accommodate more students.
Principal Samantha Pitre says a ribbon cutting ceremony was held at the school on Feb. 5 showing off the new addition.
It includes eight additional classrooms to accommodate 190 elementary student spaces, 78 child care spaces in four child care rooms, an expanded gymnasium, new bus circle, new front offices, and interior upgrades to the existing school.
“I can tell you it is very exciting for our staff here at St. Anthony’s but more importantly our students because we now have space to continue our learning in collaborative spaces,” says Pitre.
She says this addition has been in the making for several years, which officially broke ground 18 months ago.
“The ministry has been talking about a new addition build here at St. Anthony’s for quite a while and been working with Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board for the addition. In fact, I was vice principal in 2018 when we were first looking at plans,” says Pitre.
She says this addition comes as the school faces explosive growth in the community.
“We are bursting at the seams. We had six portables on site including two displaced classrooms in either former libraries or staff rooms or we borrowed a classroom back from the EarlyON centre that uses our facility. Now those displaced classrooms are actually in the building and having everyone within the building is pretty awesome,” says Pitre.
The YMCA of Owen Sound Grey Bruce will be working with the school to offer licensed child care and school age programs for child from 18 months to 12-years-old at the school.
Many local dignitaries attended the ceremony including MPP for Huron-Bruce Lisa Thomson, Bruce County Warden Chris Peabody and Kincardine Mayor Kenneth Craig.
“Creating a new child care space at St. Anthony’s School forges a seamless educational journey for our young learners. A strong foundation helps children in our community develop the skills they need to meet their full potential and achieve better educational outcomes,” says Craig.
Pitre says students filled the new classrooms when school opened in September before the gym opened in October.